Finish Friday - Wheelchair Quilt 2

The finish I have today is not the one I thought I'd have for this week, but it's nice because it clears away a UFO that's been sitting in the flimsy list since 2011.

This is a wheelchair quilt. The corners are gone so that they don't flap into the wheel/foot brace areas. See how nice that is for a wheelchair situation?

My old Florida guild makes these for a couple of centers. We'd get fabric packs at the meetings cobbled together from donations, and volunteers would take them home to sew them up. You could bring back the flimsy with the backing for someone else to finish, or just do the whole thing yourself. I liked doing the whole thing since they're small (and quick to quilt), and they provide a great opportunity to increase your FMQ skills. 

This time I worked on a motif that Wendy Sheppard shared at Ivory Spring. I want to use it on the blue bands in Run, Kitty, Run, which I need ASAP. But I needed to try it out first, and this floral flimsy was the perfect place to use it, with maximum hiding power (at least on the top). Love this quilting motif! It's so forgiving while still looking more sophisticated, in the feather family. And still looks terrific when I end up turning her feather plumes into floral plumes. 

I did have a few spots where I let in too much gap, so I just threw in a pebble where the over-puffiness was unsightly.  Worked perfectly. 

Thanks for that tutorial, Wendy.  :D

~*~*~*~*~

TGIFF * Link A Finish Friday at Richard's * Whoop! Whoop! * UFO Sunday *

Little Quilt Monday

What the heck? (and a couple little finishes)

So, the last few days needles have been breaking inexplicably while I've been quilting or sewing.  This morning, after about 12 inches, I found out why:

The needle-holder-thingy just disintegrated! What the heck??!  Nobody uses this machine but me, and it's not been abused at all. I've only had it since February. Methinks the part was defective.

So, Sapphira and I will be going to the "ER" to visit Bobby as soon as the shop is open. Hopefully it's a very simple fix for him to take care of for me, because I really want to finish that quilt!  (I don't enjoy free-motion quilting anywhere near as much on my cheap machine.)

Now  to rework my plan of attack for the rest of the week's sewing . . .   ;D

P.S.  I have some minor finishes from this past week:

I free-motioned this wheelchair charity quilt. I felt much more satisfied with my design flow on this one than the first one. :)

And a baby quilt from the charity bins at guild needed a binding, so I took it home. Was bundled with binding, and everything, so I assumed it was all set. Got around the last corner, and : "Oh, my!"

::sigh::  The only pinks and greens I had to work with looked dirty or too bright with what was here, so I resorted to a spot of white on white.  All's well that ends well.  :)

Bama Bound 1, 2, and 3 are Ready to Go!

Yay!  6 finishes to add to 2011 - all unexpected projects, but everything came out of my stash (except the little stuffed friends) and one item came off my insane UFO list that would have undoubtedly been there until 2012. 

I sure wish I hadn't had occasion to drop my other projects and do this one, but too many families due north of us lost their homes to the Alabama tornadoes. I was more than happy to help Bama Bound Quilts.  (Please check them out, and pass the word along if you can.)

You know, the trouble with getting the camera to read colors correctly just drives me nuts. I have to admit, it's rather interesting, because it's different in different lightings, as well as from fabric to fabric. For example, this may be the only photo in which the purple fleece on the back of that center quilt actually looks the way it does. The purple in the flannel, though - in reality, it's the same as the darker purple in the floral pocket accents, which look pretty close to true life in this picture. Weird.

The totes turned out so cute, I'm going to have to make one for our house, too. The outer shell is flannel, lined completely with a black twill. Pretty sure there's enough of both fabrics left to do one up.

 

These 3 quilts all came from a UFO that was at least 15 years old. I'd found it - lost and forgotten - in a plastic bag in an obscure closet corner when I made my Clean Sweep Round-Up in January. 

Two are baby/toddler size, and while the last one is too small as far as a bed cover or play mat go, it's the perfect size for a toddler/preschooler to carry around and snuggle with. So I'm sending it as well. They all have either fleece or flannel backs, for maximum coziness and tactile delight. 

I'm pretty certain that the UFO happily underwent the pains of the seam ripper, now that it gets to go snuggle with not just one person, but three little girls who will hopefully get a little comfort out of an unknown friend's efforts. 

Oh - and I love labels so much - found this free label graphic somewhere online and thought it worked PERFECTLY with these quilts. Thank you to everyone who shares such files - they make the world a better place.  :) 

Kiddo Quilts for Alabama

Bama Bound Quilts has asked for baby/children's quilts for tornado relief in Alabama. (Can you pass the link along on your blog?)

My brain was on overload, anyway, so I put my books down and went to my long-term UFO pile, where I saw a promising cheerful piece peeking out. . .

Pulled it out and found that it's almost queen-sized, but just a boring 12" checkerboard (albeit with a really cute purple floral fabric). 

Hmm, but these scraps of brights coordinate well (although the colors are all off thru the camara's eye). . . 

Frogged it and rearranged a couple pieces to yield two baby quilts and a cuddle blankie size.

Got my daughter to trace out flowers on fusible web, while I cut and fused. . . And now she's very sweetly pin-basting all three for me:

I'm going to do the quilting simultaneously with stitching the flowers down. Due to time, I'm just going to do a simple straight stitching about a 1/8th inch in since the edges are fused on. Think I'll use white shiny thread and do spirals in the big centers. Will do a meander on the rest of the quilt. 

Not sure if I'll have issues at the machine. I didn't have backing fabrics to go with this, no time to go to JoAnn's (an hour away), but I did have pretty purple fleece (which I think kids would find comforting, anyway) and a piece of pre-quilted pink flannel. I've never worked with these with quilting before, so I'm hoping the machine doesn't care.  :D   Wish me luck!

P.S. This camera really has issues these days  :/     It just can't read colors properly anymore.

Children's and Baby quilts needed for Tornado-devastated Alabama (pass it on)

Have you seen the massive destruction in Alabama from this week's spate of killer tornadoes?

The number of homes that have been literally blown to smithereens breaks my heart and makes me cry still. Not to mention the hundreds of lives that were lost.

Families are in desperate need of comfort, and this is something quilters can help with. A Tuscaloosa-area quilter is coordinating a drive for children's and baby quilts. 

Here is her plea and a link to the emerging blog. I'll be watching for delivery specifics, but in the meantime I've got some really fun Puss in Boots fabrics from who-knows-how-long-ago that needs to become a quilt or two! (p.s. - if you're a U.S. quilter, can you pass the world along on your own blog? Thanks, friends!)

Bama Bound Quilts

I am setting up a quilt charity for Tuscaloosa and Jefferson County. In particular need are children's and baby quilts. Please pack in a child/medium size tote. Please include a small stuffed animal. Entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map. Hundreds of families and children are displaced. They have NOTHING. Thanks.

My WIP Wednesday #5

Busy WIP weeks  :)    Taking Charming Love to the long-arm studio tomorrow for my learning time. I pieced this top in February 2009 (Really???)

It's not a priority UFO finish at all, but it's being used as a training piece to gain skill for one of my current top priorities.  I just loved the charm pack - brought it home and combed through my stash for some friends to put them with. Love how it turned out. :D

Was awake more than an hour in the middle of the night, thinking of what I wanted to do with the borders. . .  


::Go Back To Sleep, Already!::




Adding a Label to a quilt my cousin made for me about 20 years ago before taking my little pile to meet up with an appraiser at the public library. (Fun!)







I don't think it shows in the photo, but she used pastel green thread on the checkerboard sections, pink on the hearts, yellow on the tulips, and white for all her stitch-in-the-ditch. 

Will be satin-stitching 20 owl bodies for Devon's graduation quilt this week: 










And here are the charity quilt finishes from this past week:

Wheelchair Quilt

Baby quilt from my long-arm lesson (top made by someone in our local guild)
My roses are out!!

Used a meandering loopy star freehand to go with some of the star prints.

This week's stats:
New Projects - 1 (out of my control - this was the charity quilt at long-arm class)
Completed Projects This Week - 3! 
        (Dad's Wagon Wheels West!!!!, Charity Quilt 1,  Charity Quilt 2)
In Active Progress - 3 
        (Devon's Owls, Charming Love for longarm "lesson", Sailing's up at Patty's studio!)
UFO Firing Range - 31.667 (not counting untouched kits!)
Finishes for 2011 - 7 

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Two charity wheelchair quilts
Katie Loves Christopher
Charming Love
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Mr. Hernandez's)
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Heather's)
Be Attitudes
We Love Kelly
Sailing with the Flying Needles
Wagon Wheels West #2
Poor Forgotten Orphan from 15 years ago
Devon's Silk Spinners
Marissa's Minky Squares
Kelly's Thirties Hand Quilter
Kelly's Calico
Leap Frog Lily Pond 

WIP Wednesday #4 for me

Back to routine after 2 weeks off. Feels boring and good at the same time. Spring breaks are all over, and Scott's back to full-time days at work. We're feeling pretty thankful for the blessing of returned health. The neurologist labeled his stroke as a Reparable something something, and Scott's already had full recovery of his arm sensation. Just waiting for the official medical board review for the Air Force to close the chapter as far as "job security" goes. The fact that they've put him back to work full time at the clinic means they're not going to let him go. I think that's a good thing. ;D



Quilting mile marker for this week: I did my first free-form free-motion quilting on this charity wheelchair quilt. Ummm. . .  I took pictures ONLY so I could laugh at them later on when I have gained this skill. Let me say I have a whole new respect for the work of folks such as Leah Day! Bobbin tension was fine except for one tiny area, that's where there good news ends. Back-tracing was usually nasty by my standards; stitch size was  all over the place. Design execution failed - the eyes of the peacock feathers were supposed to be 2 or 3 times bigger than they turned out. I'll get better!

Charity quilt #2 is pinned and ready to go as my next guinea pig. These are lap quilts for wheelchair-bound folks, with the bottom corners lopped off so they don't get caught in the wheels.  Both quilts need binding this coming week.

Actually, Devon pinned this, not me. Wanted to do some community service.  :D  

Finished binding Dad's Wagonwheels West and ready to stitch the names into the border. Just need to make more table space between the machine and the wall.


I really like these Pinmoors! Purchased one bag (yes, they are very expensive) and cut them in half like someone mentioned doing several months ago. Work like a charm - More bags of these would make EXCELLENT gifts on special days ::hint-hint::


And, of course, primary focus has been on my coursework, which currently prioritizes this critical review.






Other active projects for the next few days:
BOM for quilt guild tomorrow
Week 13 discussion and Rakove Critical Review
Stitching Devon's owl bodies and prepping the wings and belly hearts.
Tail work on Marissa's Moment
Catch up Valor Bee blocks
Lori's Butterflies


This week's stats:
New Projects - None (Good Girl!!)
Completed Projects This Week - 0
In Active Progress - 3 (Dad's Wagon Wheels; Charity Quilt 1; Charity Quilt 2)
UFO Firing Range - 33 (not counting untouched kits!)
Finishes for 2011 - 4

Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Two charity wheelchair quilts
Katie Loves Christopher
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Mr. Hernandez's)
Trip Around the World with Mr. Hernandez (Heather's)
Be Attitudes
We Love Kelly
Sailing with the Flying Needles
Wagon Wheels West #2
Poor Forgotten Orphan from 15 years ago
Devon's Silk Spinners